Night-time nasal ventilation in neuromuscular disease.

14 patients, aged 2-28 years, with neuromuscular disorders and symptomatic sleep hypoventilation received night-time intermittent positive-pressure ventilation with a nasal mask. 9 were treated de novo and 5 had previously been maintained on a cuirass or iron lung. Nasal ventilation was very effective in 10 patients but was not tolerated in 4 of the 5 youngest patients. Nasal ventilation was preferable to other methods of ventilation because the system was non-invasive, quiet, portable, and easy to use and because it allowed considerable independence.